How Will the News Corporation Phone-Hacking Scandal Affect the Movies?

A variation on the "if a butterfly flaps its wings..." question: If a scandal brings down a venerable newspaper in England, does that affect what's playing in Peoria at the multiplex?

Short answer: Not yet, but wait and see.

So far, the British phone hacking scandal that has brought Rupert Murdoch's U.K. media empire to its knees has had only a limited effect on News Corporation's American holdings. What's more, the News Corp.-owned 20th Century Fox movie studio in Hollywood seems likely to be the furthest removed from the scandal in England, both in terms of geography and in terms of heads that will roll for over alleged wrongdoing in the newspaper fiasco.

Still, the company as a whole has already taken a financial hit and may be forced to undergo changes in leadership that could go as high as Murdoch himself. 20th Century Fox won't be immune to such repercussions, especially given the hit-starved studio's hunger for cash. In the long term, that could mean fewer new movies from both 20th Century Fox and art-film division Fox Searchlight.